When I first started with my recent (now ex) T, I used to get triggered at the start of every session by her opening line. She's a very happy, cheerful person, and every week she would start with a far TOO cheerful, over-the-top-smiley "So, how are you today?" Every time I would get triggered into either frightened silence, or a happy, cheerful, nothing-is-wrong-here "fine, thank you."

It took me a few weeks to figure out that it reminded me of the dynamics with my father abuser. He would abuse in the night, then every morning very cheerily greet me and demand an equally cheerful reply. I guess the dynamic it triggered for me was denial.

Once I figured out what was going on for me I was able to control my response better. At the beginning of each session I reminded myself she was not my father, she was simply being her cheerful self, and I could choose to respond honestly if I wanted to. So from then on I did. Sometimes I would tell her the week was ok, other times I would tell her my week was crap, or I felt anxious, or depressed, or whatever. And I found that she would go with me and match my mood, so in reality it didn't mirror the dynamic with my father at all.

Overall her irrepressible cheerfulness was still annoying though!